Kopacki rit Nature Park Osijek

Two Croatian greatest river arranged meeting. The location is on the Croatian east, in the region named Baranja, just 7 kilometers eastern of the city of Osijek. The meeting is stormy and inevitable. Two rivers penetrate each in other, and the result is an explosion of the senses and the blue of the water spilled on 17,700 hectares of land and lush green vegetation. This is Kopacki rit, wetland area and the oldest nature park in Croatia, founded in 1976. 80 square kilometers of its 177 square kilometers in total, is a special zoological reserve, and a park is included in the list of ornithological important areas in the world.
About 140 bird species are nesting here, which is only a small part of the 2000 biological species that have found their habitat in Kopacki rit. Kopacki rit is insatiable game of two rivers and and astonishing trick of nature, a mosaic made up of fragments of water, forests, lakes, dirt, and driftwood. Kopacki rit is never quite the same, it changes, captures and invites for always new discovering of meander streams, sandbars and banks. There are two major and significant lakes in the Park whose surface is the only constant here, and always under water. Sakadas is the deepest and penetrates up to 7 meters in the muddy ground of the Park, and Kopacko lake has an area of 220 hectares which makes it ​the largest.
Several hundred kilometers away Alps are to blame for the flood wave in the spring which brings slush to Baranja. It influences the entire Kopacki rit and leaves it under water. It takes about a month on average time when the Park is all covered by water, and as many as 99 days on average, the water retains at the major part of the Park. The peak of the flood wave is in April and May until the August sun completely chase choppy waters of the wetland.Kopacki rit nature park is the largest fluvial-wetland plain in Europe and it would be really exhausting to list all plant and animal species that inhabit it. From endangered species, here we can encounter white-tailed eagle, saker falcon, black stork, and white herons, geese, deer, wild pigs and cats and other animals breeding here or just resting in passing through. Kopacki rit is significant as hatchery and natural fish nursery, with carp, catfish and perch of the most common.
Thus, fishermans and other hunters are visiting Kopacki rit and Baranja frequently. It has a great tourist potential. Accommodation in private apartments, rooms or houses in Osijek and its surroundings, can easily be converted into a safari, to the Kopacki Rit Nature Park, as well as wine and adventurous roads in the region. Besides unspoiled natural landscape, Slavonia and Baranja has a rich historical and culture heritage. Here you can visit the castle Tikves from the 19th century which is sittuated at the land of the Park and has served as a hunting-residential complex of King Alexander and Titus.
Visiting Kopacki rit can be organized in several ways, but the beauty of the landscape can be explored by train, canoe, boat, on foot. The minimum duration of the tour is 1 hour, and package prices range from 40 to 80 kunas, which is almost nothing compared to the value of memorable hours spent in one of the last reserves of unspoiled nature in these areas. To be among the 35,000 people who visit Kopacki rit annually, book your time on the phone numbers ++ 385 31445445; ++ 385 31 752 320; ++ 385 31 752 322 or on prijemni.centar@pp-kopacki-rit.hr.